They christened a new book about the Karlovy Vary Hot Spring Colonnade with the thermal water

Karlovy Vary - In Karlovy Vary, a new book about the Vřídlo Colonnade was unveiled today. It is the first comprehensive publication mapping various aspects of probably the most controversial colonnade in Karlovy Vary. The author of the book is Lubomír Zeman, a historian from the Karlovy Vary museum, and his team. The authors christened the book today right at the Vřídlo Colonnade, stylishly with Vřídlo water.

No standalone book dedicated to the Vřídlo Colonnade has been published until now. Lubomír Zeman and his team of authors changed that, highlighting the peculiarities of the building and its undeniable quality from multiple perspectives, including architectural, artistic, hydrogeological, and balneotechnical. The publication was released by the Statutory City of Karlovy Vary in cooperation with the National Heritage Institute. It is intended for both professionals and the general public; however, the authors also aim to reach visitors to the city and spa guests. "Its goal is to depict the historical and urban development of the area, including the presentation of older buildings protecting the most valuable treasure of Karlovy Vary, the Vřídlo. The book is essentially the story of the Vřídlo and its colonnades,” said author Lubomír Zeman.

The Vřídlo Colonnade in its current form was opened to the public in 1975. The modern glass and reinforced concrete colonnade in functionalist style was built according to the design of architect Jaroslav Otruba. In recent years, it underwent a complete reconstruction, which addressed particularly the emergency state of some parts of the building and especially the krenotechnologies, the technology for capturing and treating Vřídlo water. After six years of repairs, the colonnade reopened in its original form, including the iconic Vřídlo spout, this May. The repairs cost over 50 million crowns. The city wants to continue the renovations but needs to secure enough funding, which could amount to hundreds of millions of crowns.

However, some residents of the city consider the colonnade from the 1970s as unsuitable for the overall architecture of the spa center. In 2018, a referendum was held in the city that called for the return of the colonnade to its 19th-century form. The initiators advocated for the construction of a replica of the then-cast iron colonnade. However, the referendum was not valid because not enough voters participated. The invalidity was close, with 33.66 percent of voters casting their ballots. For the referendum to be valid, 35 percent of eligible voters needed to participate. Most of those who came to the referendum wanted the replica.